Kirk Wessler: For Bears, too fine a line

Amid all the happy talk Sunday in the Chicago Bears locker room — fuzzy chatter about "getting over the hump" and "putting two good games back-to-back" — there stood stark reality.

Kirk Wessler

Amid all the happy talk Sunday in the Chicago Bears locker room — fuzzy chatter about "getting over the hump" and "putting two good games back-to-back" — there stood stark reality.

No matter how well the Bears played in their 33-25 victory over New Orleans, no matter that they have won two games in a row, their season is over. And it’s over before New Year’s Eve, before the playoffs and long before the Super Bowl for one reason.

"We were bad," defensive end Alex Brown said. "The season was bad. Really bad."

Now, we can sit here and recount all the things that went wrong or need improvement. But you already know the Bears need newer parts in the offensive line and better judgment when it comes to deciding which running back to keep and less mule-headedness when putting together the depth chart at quarterback every week. You also know a team isn’t in the hunt when the defense yields almost 22 points per game.

Even so, though, the fact remains that the margin between being an also-ran and a Super Bowl contender — especially in the NFC — isn’t large.

Look, the Bears beat the Green Bay Packers twice. They lost by only five points to the New York Giants, who were in position Saturday night to end New England’s perfect season before getting conservative.

I know. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. But four of the Bears’ losses this season were by a touchdown or less. Make a defensive play here, sustain an offensive drive there, and those outcomes easily could have turned around. Instead of 7-9, the Bears would be 11-5 and still alive.

By contrast, last season’s Bears won four games by five or fewer points. Miss a defensive play here, drop a pass there and the outcomes easily could have turned around. Instead of 13-3, those Bears would have been 9-7 and likely watching Indianapolis stomp somebody else in Miami.

"Just because you’re good one year doesn’t mean you’re gonna be good the next," Brown said. "And just because we were bad this year doesn’t mean we’re that far off."

That might be the most important lesson the Bears learned from this season. How fine the line between winning and losing.

Two years ago, the Bears talked a big game but they couldn’t deliver enough points to back up the gab. A year ago, they shut up and built a chip the size of the Sears Tower on their shoulders, then went out and proved they were too tough for anyone in the NFC to handle.

This year, from the beginning, they rarely seemed to have an edge to the way they played.

"Our goal was to win the Super Bowl," Brown said, "but maybe somewhere along the way, we forgot how we got to the Super Bowl."

Brown talked about not making plays.

There were plenty of big plays, to be sure. But maybe not enough little plays. Too many times, for example, opponents sustained drives with third-down conversions in their own territory, then turned those opportunities into points. You don’t always notice such plays when they happen — they don’t glare like a cornerback burned on a sideline route. But they’re slow death.

Also, the Bears’ trademark defense endured some embarrassing moments. Like yielding 34 points in the fourth quarter at Detroit, for a 10-point loss. And getting run over by Minnesota rookie Adrian Peterson for 224 yards, a three-point loss.

"We can’t let those things happen," Brown said.

"Guys were doing their best, they were trying. But for some reason, we just weren’t making the plays. We missed a lot of plays, and now we see what happens. We see how big a difference that can have on our record."

It’s the difference between good and bad.

It’s the difference between playing next month for another shot at the Super Bowl or packing bags and going home early, as the Bears will do after team meetings today.

It’s the difference between simply being happy to end the season on a positive note, with hope of carrying over momentum to next year, and having a chance to end the season with a victory parade.